


i could take you anywhere

by nouiszouis



Series: Monthshots! [26]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Age Difference, Build A Bear, Fluff, Humor, M/M, dad louis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-12
Updated: 2014-06-12
Packaged: 2018-02-04 08:21:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1772224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nouiszouis/pseuds/nouiszouis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>louis takes his daughter to build a bear and harry tries hard to make his experience incredible</p>
            </blockquote>





	i could take you anywhere

**Author's Note:**

> day 26!!
> 
> i wrote this based on [this](https://twitter.com/cryingparent/status/476566977767813120) [prompt](https://twitter.com/cryingparent/status/476567143312809984)
> 
> the title sort of comes from 'fred astaire' by san cisco
> 
> (excuse my excessive use of exclamation points throughout this. i think exclamation points are cool.)

Earlier today, if you had asked Louis where he'd see himself in about two hours or so, there's quite a chance that he wouldn't have said Build-A-Bear. Here he is now, though, with his daughter Rosalynn, attempting to pick out a bear for her from the wall of choices.

"Do you want a bear or another animal, Rosie?" Louis asks her, secretly examining the prices of each and hoping she chooses a cheaper bear.

"We're at Build-A- _Bear,_ daddy," she responds smartly. "I want a pink bear!"

"Alright, alright, we can get you a pink bear then and even put a pink tutu on it if you want," he smiles down at her.

She ignores him though as she starts hurrying towards one of the bins that holds dozens of unstuffed bears with light pink, fluffy fur sewn to them. It's low enough for her to reach inside and grab one of the ones sitting on top and she immediately hugs it to her chest then looks at Louis expectantly.

"I've got mine, now aren't you going to pick one out?" She asks sweetly with big blue eyes.

"Oh, no I'm not getting one we were just going to-" Is all Louis gets out before he's interrupted by another voice.

"Yeah, I think he should pick one out too," the deep voice says. "Maybe he could get a brown bear to match your pink!"

Louis turns around now to see who's trying to push them past their budget and surprisingly, it's just a young guy that stands a few inches taller than him. He's got curls tucked under a maroon headscarf, a closed-lip smile spread across his face, and green eyes that can't be perceived as anything other than friendly.

"Actually I don't think we can, uh, _afford_ another bear, yeah?" Louis tells him quietly, feeling a bit embarrassed. 

Being a twenty six year old single dad isn't something he wants to flaunt or openly talk about. It's hard for him to make ends meet sometimes and every guy he meets seems to be interested until Louis brings up the fact that, oh by the way, he has a six year old daughter.

This boy doesn't seem phased by his comment though, and instead looks at him with the same expression.

"I guess you haven't heard that it's buy a bear, get one free day today!" He exclaims brightly.

"Oh, daddy, see! Now we can both get bears!" Rosie says excitedly, tugging on Louis' arm.

Louis can't really help the small smile that break out on his face as he looks down and sees how happy his daughter looks. He looks back up at this headscarf guy and narrows his eyes slightly.

"Is it really?"

"Sure is," the boy says and it sounds truthful enough for Louis to pop an eyebrow and then make his way over to the wall of bears to pick one out for himself.

There are tons to choose from like brown bears and blue ones and ones with Justin Bieber on their feet, but there's one in particular stands out to him. It's a tan bear with a football sewn onto the bottom of his right foot and, well, Louis is a sucker for anything related to that sport.

He pulls one out of the bin and hold it in one hand, reaching down to grab Rosalynn's hand with his other. The next station they have to go to is for the stuffing where there's big machines that twirl the cotton around, making it look fancier than it really is

Of course there's none other than the boy from before sitting and waiting for them. Once Louis and his daughter are close enough, the boy begins speaking.

"Hii, I'm Harry and I'll be bringing your bear to life today," he says with a bright smile and a chipper voice. "First, I just need you to reach into that little glass case right there and pull out any heart that you want."

It's simple enough instructions and Louis follows Rosie as she takes a few steps over and shoves her hand down into the cluster of little silk hearts. There's some with stripes, a few colored rainbow, and then simpler ones that are just red and pink. She ends up picking one with pink polka dots and Louis grabs one of the rainbow ones because obviously his bear is going to support LGBT rights.

"Ok, now that you've got them, you're going to hold them tightly in your hands while we get these animals full of stuffing," Harry explains. "Ladies first?"

He holds his hand out and Rosie places her bear carefully in it, telling Harry, "Be careful with her!" as he puts it around the stuffing nozzle. 

“Don’t worry, I’d never put a bear in harm,” Harry assures her as he turns the machine on. “Come step on this little pedal now.”

She follows the order, pressing her foot down and gasps when the cotton starts filling up the bear. There’s nothing to do but watch as Harry moves the bear around, stuffing all of the individual body parts and squeezing it to check that they’re all full. Once he’s certain that they are, he stops the machine and pulls the bear off, handing it back to Rosie with a warning not to squeeze it yet.

“Next?” Harry asks with a small grin as Louis puts his own into his hand. “Step on the pedal please- what’s your name?”

“Louis,” he fills in.

“Alright, put your foot down on the pedal then, Louis,” Harry repeats just as smugly as before.

Louis sighs but puts his foot down nonetheless, pressing it while Harry fills up his bear to perfect plushiness, according to the sign on the machine. It doesn’t take very long and before he knows it Harrys asking him to step off and he’s being handed back the bear.

“ _Now_ we get to work on getting those hearts pumping!” Harry exclaims happily. “First, rub it in your hands to warm it up.”

Louis and Rosie both do so.

“Rub it around your head so that it’s smart like you.”

They do.

“Rub it on your knees so that it’ll always need you- clever pun, right?”

Rosie laughs and Louis tries not to, but ultimately fails with a small snort.

“Now, this is probably the most fun part,” Harry starts, looking between them anxiously. “You’re going to jump up and down to get the hearts beating!”

Rosie doesn’t take a second before she’s hopping up and down, barely creating a sound when she lands on the floor, but Louis just stares at Harry incredulously. The boy just gestures forward, telling Louis to go on and do it already.

“I am _not_ jumping up and down,” Louis insists.

“Well, if you don’t jump, your heart won’t start beating and if your heart doesn’t work..” Harry fades out, cocking his head and grinning. “You’re apparently old enough to know what happens without a heart, though, aren’t you?”

Louis glares at him and crosses his arms, the little girl still jumping about beside him. “ _Yes,_ and I’m also old enough to know that I don’t _have_ to jump for this heart to work.”

Harry looks at him for a second but then turns back to the machine, messing around with a few buttons. Louis thinks he’s one and drops his tough stance before Harry’s standing up in front of him and getting closer than is comfortable. He doesn’t protest or move when Harry grabs his free hand, just stands pliant and look at the boy with a blank confused stare. 

“If you won’t jump by yourself, then I’ll jump with you,” Harry smiles before he starts hopping up and down with Louis’ hand held tightly in his own.

It’s extremely embarrassing and Louis can just feel people looking at them as he rolls his eyes and Harry continues bouncing in front of him. He tries to wiggle out of Harry’s grip and stop him from jumping, but then there’s a small voice from beside him that makes him change his mind.

“Come on, daddy, you’ve got to jump to bring your bear to life!” Rosie exclaims worriedly, because if Louis doesn’t jump, her mind is set that his bear won’t be alive like hers.

He pulls his lips into his mouth and then smiles slightly and starts hopping along with Harry, trying not to meet his eyes. 

"Here we go!" Harry exclaims, nodding and smiling still.

Rosie starts laughing and jumping again even though she's done enough for the three of them. They look ridiculous but Louis is actually starting to enjoy himself, snorting through his nose and letting himself act like a kid.

Finally Harry stops jumping and Louis does the same, immediately reaching up to push his hair back into place once Harry let's go of his hand.

"See, that wasn't too humiliating was it?" Harry asks as he backs up from Louis a bit and crosses his arms.

"Oh, it was still humiliating, just also a little enjoyable," Louis answers with a sharp grin.

Harry shrugs. "Good enough for me. Now all you both need to do is make a wish on the heart and stick it into the open part so I can sew it up and bring it to life!"

Everything Harry says sounds exciting, like it's something special and amazing. Louis thinks if they were in a cartoon, Harry would constantly have little red exclamation pours above his head every time he talked.

He glances down at Rosie and she's holding the heart in her hands, her eyes closed while she makes a wish. Louis figures he should make one too so he does the same, holding it tightly in his palm and thinking of something to wish for.

His wish is a bit fairy tale cliche, especially for a twenty six year old, but he wishes to find someone to love. Someone that would do good for him and Rosie both.

As he sticks the heart in the bear, Rosie is handing hers over to Harry. He watches Harry's long fingers pull the needle and three through the bear's back, pulling it closed and closing the wish in it. 

Once he's finished with sewing the pink bear, he hands it over to Rosie with a soft expression and let's her hug it to test if it's squishy enough. Of course she says it's perfect and thanks Harry and then he's asking for Louis'.

“Hope you made a good wish since I didn’t have to hold you hand and force you too,” Harry teases as he pulls the thread through.

“Ha ha, I’m capable of making wishes, thank you,” Louis quips.

“Never know,” Harry shrugs with a grin. He hands the bear over to Louis once he cuts the extra string. “Feel good? And yes, you have to test it or else I’m going to press you about it for the rest of the time you’re here.”

Louis glares at him for a second and then gives in, squeezing the bear against his chest to test it’s supposed perfect plushiness. “Yeah, it’s fine.”

“Great!” Harry says, clapping his hands together. “Go get some clothes on those animals now, and can I suggest that _you_ ,” he points directly at Louis, “try some of the footie jerseys we have. They’d look absolutely adorable on your bear.”

“We’ll see,” Louis nods. “Happen to have a Doncaster one?”

“You know, I really don’t think we do, but I’m not big into sports and whatnot so don’t take my word for it,” Harry says, laughing down at his feet.

“Well they’re not major so I didn’t think you would anyways,” Louis shrugs with a soft smile, reaching down to grab Rosie’s hand. “Let’s go make them look like they just stepped straight off the runway. Or just got back from a football game.”

“I want mine to be a princess,” Rosie says with a big, bright smile, making her eyes squint just like Louis’ do.

“Then we can make it a princess.”

-

“You work the register too?”

Louis and his daughter have just finished making their bears; his with a Manchester United jersey and Rosalynn’s with a sequined pink dress. They’ve filled out the birth certificates and now all that’s left is paying for them.

“Well, I normally don’t, but you two are special customers so I switched places with my friend for a little bit,” Harry explains casually.

“Special, huh?” Louis presses as he gets some money out of his wallet.

“Yeah, cute little girl and her decent looking dad, that’s pretty special I think.” Harry grins and walks away from the counter before Louis can reply anything. 

He turns around and backs up a few steps to the back wall where there’s boxes stacked for the bears and little bins full of bows. Unsurprisingly, he reaches straight into the pink bin and pulls out two bows, turning back to the counter and looking down at Rosie.

“Would Princess Cece like some bows?” He asks sweetly, a dimple in his cheek because of the smile he’s got on his face.

“Yes, yes!” Rosie cries out excitedly, handing her bear up to the counter for Harry to take.

He grabs it carefully and neatly ties the bows around each of her eyes, completing the overly pinkness of the whole animal. Once he hands it back down to Rosalynn she hugs it tightly to her chest, twisting her body and smiling into it.

“Would _Beckham Cornflakes_ like any bows? Maybe red to match his jersey?” Harry asks, sounding genuine but obviously being a little shit.

“Hey don’t knock his name, they’re a great player and cereal brand, and _no_ I don’t think he wants any-”

“Oh come on, take the bows, dad. They’ll make Beckham look pretty like Cece.” Rosie tugs on his arm and pouts and who is Louis to say no to that.

“Fine, fine, put the bows on,” Louis sighs, handing the bear over to a smug Harry. He ties the bows quickly around each of the ears and hands him back over to Louis who snatches him back.

As he hands his money over to Harry, he catches sight of the woman next to him paying for two bears for her children and the small screen above the register clearly shows a price that’s equal to two bears. That being noticed, he also realizes that there’s not a sale going on for buy one bear, get one free.

“Harry, there’s not really a sale is there,” Louis says, not bothering to ask since he knows the answer.

“Um,” Harry starts, licking over his lip as he pulls out Louis’ change. “No. But, you don’t need to pay for both of them.”

“Look, I’m not a charity case, I need to pay for the other one,” Louis insists, dropping his voice so Rosie doesn’t listen.

“It’s _fine,_ I’m only working here because I was getting bored of having nothing to do when I have time off from uni. I don’t need the pocket change, seriously, I can just take it out from a few paychecks,” Harry tells him like it’s no big deal at all.

“You’re not doing that, you need the-” And he gets interrupted once again.

“My parents are rich, alright,” Harry sighs. “I‘m on break right now and living with them for the summer, so really, all of the money I get from here is pocket change for dumb stuff I want sometimes. You seem like you’d appreciate this bear more than I would a new video game.”

Louis wants to argue but he knows he won’t get anywhere so he just pushes those thoughts away and takes his change when Harry holds it out. He declines putting their bears in a box and instead take the birth certificates in his hands.

“Thank you,” he tells Harry sincerely before he leaves. “It means a lot for you to do something sweet like this.”

“It’s really no problem, I’m glad I could make someone’s day a little better and easier,” Harry says through a smile.

“Yeah, well, maybe I’ll see you again,” Louis says as he starts walking away from the counter.

“Maybe,” Harry says and if Louis isn’t mistaken, he definitely saw a smirk.

Without looking back, he walks out of the store and mall and out to his car. He drives home listening to his daughter play with the bears and make them talk to each other like she does with Barbies. When they get home, Louis parks the car and when he reaches down to grab the certificates, he notices something written on the back of one in pen.

With a closer look, he reads it:

_Hiii.. I really want to talk to you again and see you if that’d be okay. Maybe I’ll make a Victoria Krispies bear and we can make a date out of it. My number is 07981-555555._

_Love, Harry :) xx_

And that’s when he thinks maybe, just maybe, his wish is going to come true.

 

**Author's Note:**

> hope you liked it! comments and kudos are greatly appreciateddd
> 
> if you want to talk to me i'm strong on ao3, @daddyhair on twitter, and louwie on tumblr


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